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A New Era

Revamping Holiday Mansion

Published online: May 26, 2011News

It's nearly impossible to walk most marinas without coming across at least one HolidayMansion houseboat. These popular crafts were first manufactured in 1965 by Jack Byquist and still have many loyal followers. Today, thanks to Lee Burgess and Ed Maynard, HolidayMansion is once again building boats with the same philosophy-to provide quality production that is well engineered and fairly priced-as its founder once did.

Nestled between the houseboating hubs of LakeCumberland and DaleHollowLake, the new 51,520-square-foot facility in Albany, Ky., is on 6.1 acres and is designed to accommodate up to 150 boats per year.

"At the present time we are working with Volvo and building a 52 Coastal Commander for a client with IPS Drives and Volvo diesels," says Burgess. "With the assistance from Volvo, this will be a new era for HolidayMansion and a first in the houseboat market. The IPS drives will make cruising and docking a breeze and at cruising speeds it will just sip diesel fuel, which makes it perfect for the retirees. Resurrecting the HolidayMansion line and keeping the name representing a quality product is what we are dedicated to doing."

According to BoatUS, a new survey by Boating Industry magazine found that people who manufacture, sell, repair and store recreational vessels are noting an increasing number of issues due to ethanol-related fuels.

When it comes to recreational boating, we love our access to federal waters. But with problems like lack of funds for ramp/dock maintenance, aging marina infrastructure, and even government will, there can be obstacles to this access.

As National Marine Manufacturers Association president Thom Dammrich put it when addressing groups throughout the industry, “All this economic news is a green light for good times in recreational boating.”

West Marine and Monomoy Capital Partners, a New York-based private equity fund, just announced a definitive merger agreement under which a wholly owned affiliate of Monomoy will acquire all of the outstanding shares of common stock of West Marine at $12.9